{"id":4,"date":"2003-02-23T22:33:14","date_gmt":"2003-02-24T03:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=4"},"modified":"2007-04-15T09:12:09","modified_gmt":"2007-04-15T14:12:09","slug":"a-brush-with-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-brush-with-fame","title":{"rendered":"A Brush With Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday was one BLEARY night in NYC, off gallivanting with my high school buddy Adam. Got back to his apartment around 3:45am, but not before stopping at a “street meat” food cart a block from his midtown apartment.<\/p>\n

We met up with Debbie, another high school friend, who was, Adam informed me, Cindy Crawford’s<\/a> personal trainer. We didn’t remember each other at all from Strath Haven<\/a>, which may have been for the best. I only attended high school with them for a year (Mom & I moved down to Pennsylvania in 1988, going into my senior year of school), but seem to have more friends from that one year than I do from the 17 years I spent in New Jersey<\/a>. There’s probably some significant reasons for that, which I’ll go into at a later date.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night, before meeting Adam at the 2nd Ave. Deli<\/a> (ostensibly kosher, but open on Saturday; go figure), I walked over to St. Mark’s Book Shop<\/a>, where I thought I’d browse, try to get some ideas for what I’m going to do with the Paul West book’s design. A short, balding, stocky man with sideburns walked past me and around the other side of the shelf I was browsing. I was pretty sure I recognized him, wrestled with the thought for a moment, and went over to confirm my suspicion.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Shawn?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“Yes?” he replied.<\/p>\n

So there I was, standing in the presence of Wallace Shawn<\/a>. Now, most people who can visually identify him don’t know his name. They probably see him and think of the two great character roles he’s played in the movies: the “That’s inconceivable!” guy from The Princess Bride<\/a>, or geeky Mr. Hall in Clueless<\/a> (which he also played in the TV version). Don’t get me wrong; both were fine movies, but I’m pretty sure hearing about those roles burns his ass. It’d irritate ME, if I had higher intentions than comedic bit-parts.<\/p>\n

Which Mr. Shawn does. His father, after all, was William Shawn<\/a>, a legendary editor at The New Yorker<\/a>. And, beyond all the comedy roles, Wallace Shawn graduated Harvard<\/a> and Oxford<\/a>, wrote and starred in My Dinner with Andre<\/a>, and translated Machiavelli. So rather than bring him down by citing his (gifted) comedic work, which mainly plays off of his cartoonish appearance, I said:<\/p>\n

“I just wanted to let you know, The Designated Mourner<\/a> may be one of my favorite plays ever.”<\/p>\n

A smile brimmed his face. “Why, thank you,” he said.<\/p>\n

We talked briefly, then I left the store. I thought about taking out my digital camera<\/a> and snapping a shot of us in the store, but:<\/p>\n

a) I didn’t want to draw too much attention to him; and<\/p>\n

b) I would’ve had to crouch down pretty far to fit both of us in the frame.<\/p>\n

I have several other bumping-into-celebrities stories that I’ll share sometime. The best one involves meeting demented redneck baseball pitcher John Rocker<\/a> . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday was one BLEARY night in NYC, off gallivanting with my high school buddy Adam. Got back to his apartment around 3:45am, but not before stopping at a “street meat” food cart a block from his midtown apartment. We met up with Debbie, another high school friend, who was, Adam informed me, Cindy Crawford’s personal … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Brush With Fame”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":106,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/we-got-him","url_meta":{"origin":4,"position":0},"title":"“We got him”","author":"Gil","date":"December 14, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"My buddy Adam woke me up after 4 hours of sleep (I was crashed out on his living-room sofa), following a drunken Saturday night in NYC, to let me know that Saddam Hussein got nabbed by the U.S.He's calling all his friends & family now. Here's a great quote:Adam: \"Turn\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/its-a-mental-state","url_meta":{"origin":4,"position":1},"title":"It’s a Mental State","author":"Gil","date":"August 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"You cannot believe the neurotic depths I fall into when I try to write fiction. This evening, I thought I could get started on this idea I have for a short novel (or a lengthy chapter in the magnum opus I can't bring myself to write). 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